PA House Lawmakers Remove Optional County Fee From 9-1-1 Legislation

By Andrew Staub | PA Independent

Pennsylvanians will still see their phone bills rise under legislation revamping funding for 911 call centers, but they won’t get tagged with an additional county fee after the state House tweaked the bill Tuesday.

The House Rules Committee eliminated a provision in House Bill 911 that would have allowed counties to impose an annual 911 user fee of  up to $52 for every residence. Inserted by the state Senate, it also allowed counties to charge businesses a fee based upon their number of employees, a cost that could escalate to $3,000 in some cases.

That was in addition to raising the call center surcharge reflected on phone bills to a uniform $1.65 per month, a change that the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency estimated would bring in $314 million – about $124 million more than the current surcharge nets.

Stacking another fee on top of a surcharge increase had given the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business pause.

“I think some of us are scratching our heads as to why that fee would go even higher,” Kevin Shivers, the NFIB executive state director, said before lawmakers stripped the optional fee.

Neal Lesher, a lobbyist for NFIB, said while there are merits for discussing how to assess 911 call center fees, members of the organization would not have wanted to see the county fee unless the existing surcharge on phone bills was repealed.

State Rep. Eli Evankovich, R-Westmoreland, also said earlier in the day that the county fee was cause for hesitation. If call centers need additional funding for capital projects, he’d prefer any fee increase expire once the project is complete.

“Once you see a tax, once you see a fee, it’s just there forever,” said Evankovich, the chairman of the House Legislative Manufacturing Caucus and a member of the Rules Committee.

While the Senate overwhelmingly approved of the legislation with the county fee included, “every indication is that the Senate would be open to this version as we do not want jeopardize funding for our 911 centers,” said Jennifer Kocher, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre.

Lawmakers are working under a tight deadline, considering the $1 surcharge for wireless devices expires at the end of the month. For now, the bill will have to ping-pong between the House and Senate.

The House already approved the legislation earlier this session, but will have to vote on it again because of changes made in the Senate. Because of the changes made in the House on Tuesday, the Senate will also have to reconsider the bill, further delaying its arrival on Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk.

In exchange for higher surcharges, lawmakers have said additional funding would allow counties to move forward with next-generation technology. Still, much of the new funding would simply help close a state funding gap for call centers that counties have had to fill.

Pennsylvania already has a relatively high surcharge. Customers with landlines can pay anywhere between $1 and $1.50 a month; Voice over Internet Protocol customers pay $1 a month. Prepaid users pay $1 at the time of the retail transaction.

All would jump to $1.65 under the bill. The legislation would sunset after four years, giving the General Assembly another chance to reevaluate funding for 911 call centers.